If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

This site is called Mes Aynak and is nothing short of awe-inspiring: a massive walled-in Buddhist city featuring massive temples, monasteries, and thousands of Buddhist statues that managed to survive looters and the Taliban. Holding a key position on the Silk Road, Mes Aynak was also an international hub for traders and pilgrims from all over Asia.

Hundreds of fragile manuscripts detailing daily life at the site are still yet to be excavated. Beneath the Buddhist dwellings is an even older yet-unearthed Bronze age site indicated by several recent archaeological findings.

Mes Aynak is set for destruction at the end of December 2012. All of the temples, monasteries, statues as well as the Bronze age material will all be destroyed by a Chinese government-owned company called China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC). Six villages and the mountain range will also be destroyed to create a massive open-pit style copper mine.

In 2007, MCC outbid competitors with a $3 billion bid to lease the area for 30 years. MCC plans to extract over $100 billion worth of copper located directly beneath the Buddhist site. Ironically, the Buddhists were also mining for copper albeit in a more primitive fashion.

the very night Bush declared war on Iraq I cried and cried for all of the artifacts I KNEW would be lost and destroyed from Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization ruined for oil... This is so sad. What can we do?

maybe the biggest misanthrope since Mesopotamia. You absolutely right about the Ancient civilizations LOST because of War & $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Donowitz (17 posts)
30. Believe it or not, this isn't far from the truth

The Chinese lobby in America had a huge hand in arguing for Bush to go to war in Afghanistan.

In return they promised kickbacks to American companies, i.e. that they'd sell rare-earths to American corporations at a discount.

China and Wall Street are very close these days. Moreover the Chinese are closing in on the American media and banks no thanks to the Republicans who all made billions off of crooked back-room deals with Beijing.

It's amazing how much that man can do. And Obama can't even manipulate any jobs to grow here in the US.

In most sports, cold-cocking an opposing player repeatedly in the face with a series of gigantic Slovakian uppercuts would get you a multi-game suspension without pay.

In hockey, it means you have to sit in the penalty box for five minutes.